running for president of the >> i'm mitt romney, and i'm running for president of the united states. >> i think my dad has always felt like he wanted to be true to his dad's name and legacy. >> a savvy businessman who made a fortune at bain capital and turned around the 2002 winter olympics. >> he has two speeds, asleep or wide awake and fixing things. >> good to see you! he is a mr. fix-it. >> a man driven by faith in himself, his family, and his mormon religion. >> you try your very best to know what god might say and of course you look to get direction from the church as well.

>> a warm, caring man. >> he was going to do anything he could to just say, i'm here, stay right there and we'll be okay. >> or a cold, calculating politician? >> he's made decisions knowing that they could resurface 30 years, hence, under the glare of a political campaign. >> mitt romney isn't pro-choice, anti-choice. he's multiple choice. >> a political opportunist -- >> he changed his position on a broad range of issues for a simple reason, he wanted to run for president of the united states. >> or a true believer. >> i know his core. honesty, integrity, decency, intelligence, conviction to doing the right thing. >> we're going to bring back america. thank you so much. >> now, "romney revealed: family, faith and the road to power." ann and mitt romney's summer home sits on lake winnipesaukee in new hampshire.

a private, large and lived-in family retreat for the entire clan. all 28 of them. >> they all just left. a lot of them left last night. i ran through 12 loads this morning. a lot of towels. a lot of sheets. but it's a joyous thing. it's a joyous thing to have them all here. >> even in the midst of a presidential campaign. tell me a little bit about the mitt romney that's here, at the lake. >> nonstop. nonstop. he is going every minute. he's loving it. he pops out of bed the first thing in the morning, and he's just going. >> here, inside the lake house, romney is more camp counselor than candidate. >> fun loving, warm, spontaneous. get him out of the public eye, put him in here, he is as loose and funny and spontaneous as you'd ever want to see. and just so much fun to be with. >> so what happens when you get in the public eye? >> you just have to be more

circumspect. you have to be more careful with your words. you just have to be very, very careful, and it's unfortunate, i think, that even -- people, i think, probably only think of mitt maybe through his business lens. and, for me, you know, that is just 1% of who he is. >> and who is he really? first and foremost, a romney. the romney name has been in the public eye for the last half century, a family of great wealth will and business achievement, political success as well as failures. mitt was the fourth and last child for george and lenore romney. born march 12th, 1947, some recall him as the favorite. george wrote to the family in september 1956 -- mitt is growing like a weed, as full of ideas and energy as ever. tom mccaffrey grew up with romney. >> mitt as a child was extremely energetic, the kind of kid who could never sit down.

his mind was going 100 miles an hour. >> george was much the same way. >> you know, he's just got that energy. >> phillip maxwell lived down the street from the romneys in a wealthy detroit suburb. >> george would go out on the golf course. and he had fluorescent golf balls, and he would hit the ball and he would run after the ball, jogging, hit the ball again. and that was his exercise. >> young mitt not only had his father's energy -- >> there seems to be a special bond between george and mitt. >> -- michael kranish and scott helman co-wrote the book "the real romney." >> mitt absolutely idolized his

father in a way you can see drawn out in the way he's run his life, following the same footsteps of the career. >> george romney was a ceo who saved american motors by betting on smaller cars. it gave his son a first look at business. >> george was a turnaround artist at american motors, taking a company that had lost focus, for whatever reason, and fixing it. >> and once george made his mark in the auto world, he switched gears to politics. he was the republican governor of michigan for three terms. and young mitt was a fixture on the campaign trail, schooled early in issues, strategies and the possibility of losing. >> and dad's pollster said, george, you can't possibly win. i was a kid in high school. i thought, oh, no, you know, we're going to lose, i'm going to be embarrassed at school, these little things that a kid thinks. and my dad said -- it was clear, he said, i'm not in this because i worry about winning or losing, i'm here to make a difference. he's not defined by elections. he's been defined as a man of character throughout his life. >> and then there was mitt's mother lenore. >> my mom had a softer side. she used to read to me when i was a boy and gave me a love of culture and literature.

>> once a screen actress, lenore met george in 1924. their courtship became an often told part of the family story. >> he left what he was doing and traveled west to hollywood to convince her to marry him as opposed to going into the movie business. he knew what he wanted and was not going to stop until he got it. >> mitt's courtship of ann was, in its own way, no less intense. they were just teenagers at neighboring elite private schools in detroit. it was mitt's senior year when he spotted the 16-year-old ann davies at a dance. >> i did fall madly in love with him very quickly. actually. but i was very aloof, very cool. >> she was very smart. she set the hook deep. and i'd call and say, let's get together. she was too busy. she went on a date with someone else while i was pursuing her. made me just crazy. >> he was so much fun.

captivating. it was just fun, fun, fun to be with him. >> there are lots of stories of good-natured practical jokes. >> but at cranbrook, he was kind of swimming around, trying to find his place. one of the consequences was he would get involved in these pranks. which were really attention getting devices. >> but maxwell remembers one incident he says crossed the line. a younger classmate returned from break with long bleach-blond hair, and a group of guys, including romney, confronted him. >> he was taken down, and mitt had scissors and he cut his hair. it was an ugly scene, and it was a long time ago, but i'll never forget it because of the look on this boy's face. he was absolutely terrified when they took him down. >> others, as you know, who went to cranbrook with you remember different stories that they say

were over the top and maybe even cruel to some students. do you remember it that way? >> no, i don't. and i know that comes up during the campaign season. but it's the first time i've heard that. >> the hair cutting story? >> i think that's the only story i've heard of that nature. but the pranks that we pulled were designed to be funny and to have fun. i can imagine that now and then things i did in high school are not things that i'd want to become part of a presidential campaign. >> that was decades ago. one incident when romney was a teenager without focus and direction. something he would find later in a very surprising place. [ female announcer ] ready for a taste of what's hot? check out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine. creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic chicken spring rolls. they're this season's must-have accessory. lean cuisine. be culinary chic.

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i'm victor blackwell. here's what's happening. three days until election day and the candidates are setting a dizzying pace. saturday, president obama stumped in wisconsin, wrapping

up the day in virginia. governor romney started in new hampshire, spoke in iowa, ending with two campaign stops in colorado. because of last week's storm, people in new jersey can vote electronically on tuesday. the governor's office says it's widening the fax and e-mail program used by absentee voters and deployed military. the storm wiped out so many structures, officials want to ease the pressure on temporary polling places. the storm clean-up continues. at least 106 u.s. deaths are blamed on the massive storm and the search for victims continues. almost 2.5 million people are still without power. the damage is estimated at $30 billion to $50 billion. an update to the recent meningitis outbreak. dozens have been struck by a new injection. 14,000 people received the shot and more than 400 people contracted the virus. "romney revealed" continues.

it was fall 1965, stanford university. the counterculture movement was growing. a different world for freshman mitt romney, straight from a michigan boarding school and his conservative roots. >> he has this exposure, i think, to all these new ideas, all these new people, these new experiences. >> but all romney could think about at first was ann, back in michigan. mark marcus was romney's roommate. >> a lot of guys come to college and have high school girlfriends. but you could tell for mitt it was different. he could not stop talking about ann. >> we were so much in love. i went off to college, and got a job there to earn a little money so i could pay for an airplane ticket to go home and see her. i didn't tell my parents.

>> this was at stanford. >> while i was at stanford. we didn't tell my parents about this. >> so you snuck home? >> i flew home, snuck home, would take her on a date. >> but as the year wore on, the politics on campus became inescapable. >> he's very affected by this world in which he sees an anti-establishment strain growing. >> as the protests at stanford grew, romney stood with the establishment and for the war. >> his father at that time was strongly for the vietnam war, and he was finding his political footing. really the first time we see mitt romney emerge as his own man in a political sense is when he does lead this protest against the anti-war protesters on the campus of stanford. he's standing up with a sign saying, speak out, don't sit in. >> but romney never went to vietnam himself, exempt as a student and with a high draft lottery number. >> he's protesting the anti-war protesters, but he does not volunteer to go serve in

vietnam. he would have been eligible to serve, certainly. >> at the end of his freshman year, romney would be called to serve. not his country but his faith, as a mormon missionary in france. it was a tradition he considered breaking. >> he was concerned, according to his friends, that he might lose ann. so he talked to ann about this and she told him, you know, if you don't go, you'll always regret it. and i'll be here. >> when he left, i had a very brave face, went to the airport with his entire family. we all said good-bye. i was driven home with his family, and then i walked into my home, opened the door, my mother was there. i fell flat on the ground and just dissolved in tears. and she could not console me. >> for 2 1/2 years in the turbulent '60s, romney was

living abroad, working every day to convert the skeptical french to his mormon faith. so this is this kind of neighborhood that you used to knock on doors in, all day? >> this -- yes, 45 years ago. this is fairly typical. >> mike bush took us back to the streets of bordeaux, where he and romney spent 60 hours a week spreading their faith in french. did you have a specific message? >> we would talk to them about our beliefs. we would talk about jesus christ, talk about the book of mormon. >> you're out talking to people about your faith and your religion and differences between it and other faiths. >> getting doors slammed in your face. >> most of the time. this was a time when a lot of people were not happy with america in france. it was a time of a great deal of rejection. >> but romney kept at it. in a rare conversation about his faith, he reveals how the constant rejection led to some surprising soul searching.

>> but you say, okay, wait a second, what's important here? what do i believe? what's truth? is there a god? is jesus christ the son of god? these are questions that are no longer academic, they're critical because you're talking about that day in and day out. >> as mitt questioned everything he was raised to believe in, his father tried to get his son back on track. >> your father sent you this letter when you were in france. and he quoted robert lewis stevenson to you in trying to sort of get you to not feel discouraged. he said, despair not but if you despair, work on in your despair. and then he wrote, so persist. >> my dad, what a guy. what a guy. i mean, he's always been there for me. look, i remember my dad's advice throughout my life. every time i had challenges of one kind or another, he was there with counsel.

an extraordinary man. >> who happened to be running for president while mitt was a world away, isolated, depending largely on newspaper accounts of his father's fight for the republican nomination. >> i have decided to fight for and win the republican nomination and election to the presidency of the united states. >> the war in vietnam was issue number one. george romney had been a hawk but turned against the war and said so. >> you know, when i came back from vietnam, i just had the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get. >> by the general? >> when you go over to vietnam -- not only by the generals but also by the diplomatic corps over there. >> months after george romney's now-infamous brainwashing comment, his campaign collapsed. an early political lesson mitt romney would never forget. >> mitt's sister jane has said for example this really deeply affected mitt and that he's more careful in what he says, more

scripted in what he says because he saw just how one phrase could torpedo a presidential campaign. >> thank you, governor romney. >> thank you very much. >> if george's failure turned romney into the cautious candidate he is today, he won't admit it. some people say you've learned from or overlearned from mistakes. >> i do that, too. i tell the truth, too. he used to say -- one of his favorite sayings was that being right too early is devastating in politics. but, still, it's being right. and you tell people what you believe. >> what romney believes has become an issue throughout his political career. and while the message was clearer in france, his mission would almost cost him his life. >> i was at home, and i had word that he was killed.

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in 1968, france was a dangerous place to be for a 21-year-old american. but mitt romney was right in the middle of it. >> there were protests and there were blockades and there were marches all over the country. >> the streets of france were in chaos. >> there was no train service, there were no buses, no newspapers. the electricity would go off from time to time.

there were no letters from home. the money at the time came via check. that was our lifeline, was getting letters from home. >> so you were totally isolated? >> totally isolated. >> they were out of touch pretty much with 200 missionaries that they were responsible for. >> andy anderson's father was leading the mormon mission in france. by the time the riots ended, romney had been promoted to become president anderson's assistant, and they had an urgent assignment. >> they had gotten word there was some little dispute in this southern city in this mormon congregation so they decided to drive down to try to resolve it in person, and mitt was driving. >> it was a warm summer day in june when they began a six-hour drive between paris and the south of france. romney was driving anderson and his wife leola. >> they, i believe, were in the town of beaulac. as they come north near the top

of the hill and in their way was a mercedes. they had no time to react. the car was on the wrong side of the road. >> the mercedes driver, apparently drunk, slammed into them at full speed. both cars crushed and mangled. mitt romney and leola anderson unconscious. >> george called me on the phone and said, "we have some bad news about mitt," but he didn't tell me what and he came and picked me up and took me to his home. i had word that he was killed. >> the policeman on the scene apparently thought i was in worse condition than i was and wrote in french "he is dead" on my passport. >> we waited for hours and hours, most of the night, to get word from france that he was actually alive. >> i was knocked unconscious and only recall waking up for a brief moment in the ambulance, going to the hospital. >> it turns out that romney had a severe concussion and broken bones, but leola, the mom away

from home to 200 young missionaries, was dead. >> it was a great time of challenge and soul searching for all of us. >> romney, anderson's assistant, was now left to lead a struggling mission. >> the person who had been leading our mission there, a wonderful man, was so injured that he had to return to the united states for surgeries. and during that time i and one other fellow took responsibility for overseeing the affairs of the 200 or so men and women -- or boys and girls -- that were serving there as missionaries. >> this was a critical moment. >> it was. >> morale must have been -- >> morale was low. by september, we were only halfway toward our yearly goals. >> romney kept the mission going and set an ambitious new goal, more than doubling the target for conversions. >> mitt said, we've got to have people do things different from

how they've been doing them. >> so they did just that. >> we were dressed up in vaudeville outfits we had found in the basement of the mission home there. it just brought the house down and lifted people's spirits, and they were laughing again. >> spirits were high and so were the number of converts. >> we were at 80. >> you were at 80. >> doubling it in the last four months. come december 31st, we had 204, 205 new converts that had happened. so the goal was accomplished. >> by the end of his mission, romney had cemented his faith. >> these things drew me closer to the eternal and convinced me that in fact there is a god, that jesus christ is the son of god and my savior. these are features that continue to be important in my life. >> he was a young boy when he left, a prankster and liked to play jokes and probably didn't take life too seriously. he came back much more studious, much more serious.

i think discovered a little bit about who he was and what was important to him. >> mitt romney was ready to return home, but an unexpected letter sent him reeling. >> i was just sort of telling him before he came home, i haven't seen you for 2 1/2 years, i don't -- i'm dating other people.

it might be called "the city of lights," but mitt romney's last months in paris felt pretty dark. he had gotten word from his girlfriend, ann davies, that she was dating another man. but mitt had to wait until the end of his mission to see her. >> he walked off that airplane, and we only had eyes for each other. >> christmas eve 1968. >> he walked right by his mother, his father, right to me. and it was as though time had stood still. it was an amazing moment where nothing -- it just dissolved, those 2 1/2 years dissolved, and we were right back to where we were exactly when he left.

>> and he proposed. >> on the car ride home, he was, like, oh, my gosh, i've waited so long for you. let's just get married. now. and i'm like, why not? let's do that. of course, that was not good news to either set of parents. >> ann was 19, mitt, 21. their parents wanted them to wait. but they wanted a valentine's day wedding. what did you guys do when you got this? >> yeah! all right! >> close friend dane mcbride remembers the telegram he received with the news. boom, february 14. and you knew exactly what he was talking about? >> absolutely. >> at lenore romney's request, they waited a month. >> it was beautiful. >> you were in the wedding? >> i was. there was the civil wedding that was performed by a bishop of our church in bloomfield hills, michigan, at the davies home, ann's parents' home. >> the next morning, they flew to utah for a second ceremony in

salt lake city's mormon temple, where they were sealed for eternity, as the church calls it. ann's parents couldn't attend because they weren't mormon. ann herself was a relatively new convert. romney biographers scott helman and michael kranish. >> when ann davies meets mitt, i think she's searching a little bit for a religious home, the way a teenager does. what does this mean. and what do i believe? >> early on, when mitt was going out with ann, he did give her some lessons in what was the mormon faith all about. >> but ultimately ann's conversion was overseen by george romney while mitt was in france. >> and he would pick me up every sunday for church. the reason i think it was so easy for me to talk to him even on a spiritual level like that is because he respected me as his complete equal. >> ann and mitt settled in provo, utah, in this $75-a-month basement apartment, starting a family and getting serious about school.

the mission experience in france had clearly refocused romney. >> life was very different in america than life for the french. and i thought, boy, i've got to work hard in school, i need to be responsible, i need to get back and work. and i began to long for the chance to go back to school and prepare for my life going forward. >> brigham young university was as far from stanford as romney could get. he seemed at home in this conservative environment, yet, in the midst of his new life, mitt took off again on the campaign trail in 1970. >> she hasn't sold a lie to a political ideology. >> this time, for his mother. >> lenore romney, candidate for the united states senate. >> lenore, the dutiful candidate's wife, was now the candidate, running for the u.s. senate seat in michigan. >> i became so concerned about the direction our country has been going. >> her youngest son, mitt, was by her side.

romney crossed the entire state with lenore. >> they thought there was a need for the moms and dads to have a community center. >> her style, a cautious, elegant diplomat, distinctly different from her husband's bull in a china shop approach. >> she was a very gracious woman but nuanced, careful. and i see that in mitt. >> i think he had a very advanced and mature understanding of politics, you know, at a pretty young age. lenore romney ended up getting killed in that senate race. you know, you take away lessons from victories and from defeat. >> from both parents. george thrives on candor. >> there's a growing aimlessness and flabbiness in our american society. >> lenore more cautious. their son looked for a path somewhere in between. but george romney steered his son away from politics and

toward business first and two graduate degrees, in both business and law, at harvard. >> by now, george romney had seen what it took to succeed and what kind of skills you needed and what kind of credentials you needed. and so he was encouraging his son to go beyond where he had been. >> so in 1972, mitt, ann and their two baby boys moved to massachusetts. but their move from utah would not be easy. >> it was destroyed by fire in august of 1984. and the fire department indicated that it was most likely set. they categorized it as of suspicious origin. creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic chicken spring rolls. they're this season's must-have accessory. lean cuisine. be culinary chic.

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it was a full house for the romneys throughout the '70s here in belmont, massachusetts. >> it was a lot of fun. i was the oldest of five boys and so there was a lot of chaos. >> your mother once said that your father was kind of like having another teenager in the house. >> yeah. we thought of him as a really big older brother for a long time. he was just a lot of fun to be around. >> life was also busy. romney was starting a lucrative and intense financial consulting job in boston. ann was running things at home. >> people describe him as the energizer bunny. >> my kids joke and say that i'm the mitt stabilizer because whenever mitt might start winding up and getting really highly energetic, they know i have a very calming influence.

>> in the '70s and '80s, romney was also spending a lot of time with his church, which saw him as a rising star. energetic, devoted, generous with both time and money. >> everybody was well aware of mitt romney. there was some star power even when he wasn't running for office. >> phil barlow first met mitt romney at church in 1979. like most in the church, he already knew the romney name but not the romney work ethic. >> a person that busy and successful might tend to pull out their pocketbook rather than take their time. and he did both. >> for more than a decade, romney was part of the leadership of the mormon church in his hometown. the church has no paid clergy. so at the age of 34, romney was asked to lead his congregation. >> talk about a growing up experience and a learning experience. >> it is a time he rarely talks about but was surprisingly open with us.

>> i was like the pastor. that meant if someone was in the hospital, i needed to see them. and if someone lost their job and couldn't afford to meet their rent payments, i was responsible for helping get them the financial aid they needed. if there was someone contemplating a divorce and they wanted counseling, they'd come to me. >> one of the toughest times for the church came in 1984. led by romney, the congregation was building a new meetinghouse in belmont. for years, there was a good deal of local opposition. you got a call in the middle of the night? >> yes, yes. this building was under construction. >> grant bennett, romney's right-hand man in the church, remembers the call from the fire department. the building had burned to the ground. they suspected arson. >> the clergy in the town of belmont, the catholics, the episcopalians, the congregationalists, the jewish temple came out in force and

essentially everyone offered for our congregation to meet in their building. >> instead of picking one congregation, romney picked all of them. >> i think he very much saw this as a bridge building opportunity to get to know our neighbors. >> romney was less successful bridging another divide. >> the mormon church is the archenemy of women's rights in this country. >> the '70s was the decade when the e.r.a. was being pushed and the mormon church came out in the early '70s and took a very active position against the e.r.a. >> judy dushku was a member of romney's congregation and a feminist fighting for women's rights in the mormon church, like having more of leadership role or being able to deliver a sermon. >> there we were, suddenly faced with a church that we'd all loved and grown up in. suddenly, it was taking this unusual and we thought strange position. >> so what about when mitt romney became bishop?

>> i expected a comforter, somebody who would protect women and who would have an inclusive attitude and be equally interested in the peace of mind of all of us. and i did not feel that in his congregation. >> well, i'm sure we all have differing memories. >> romney recalls a meeting he led with more than 300 mormon women. >> i adopted many of the recommendations that they offered. >> not all. >> not all. because the doctrine of my church is not something i'm in a position to change. >> i look at that as a time i saw mitt soften and change. it was a learning experience for all of us. and, you know -- but i saw a person that was respectful and listening and caring. >> but dushku didn't think he was sympathetic at all and believes he bears a grudge against her to this day. >> i think it's indicative of the way mitt sees the world. there are certain people who matter and certain people who he

approves of and other people that he doesn't approve of. if he doesn't approve of them, he thinks they don't have the same kind of standing, they don't have the same kind of merit, they don't have the same kind of right to function and to hold opinions and to participate. >> something others around him at the time fiercely deny. >> i would call him open and welcome to new ideas. and if there's a better way, absolutely, let's do it the better way. >> in business, romney would invent the bain way, something that would pay off in years to come.

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it was the heady '80s. big money, corporate buyouts and dramatic takeovers. mitt romney was knee-deep in it. a rising star at a boston consulting group, bain & company, which had a great pitch help businesses make money by cutting costs.

>> by all accounts, mitt romney was very successful in advising companies how to improve their business operations. >> but soon romney's boss had a better idea. instead of just advising companies, why not buy them with investor money to generate huge profits. and bain capital was born. early partner jeffrey rennart. >> well, it was a lot of long hours, a lot of late nights and a lot of learning but a lot of success. >> so what kind of a leader was mitt romney during those early years? >> i would say in the early years mitt was a lead-by-example kind of leader. he -- you know, he dug in, you know, did analysis side by side with us. >> and it paid off. bain capital invested in more than 100 companies, nearly doubling its returns for clients annually. >> how you doing?

>> romney made a lot of money, and he would later claim created a lot of jobs. but a former bank colleague, who talked off camera about whether the company's emphasis was on job creation told cnn, quote, we were in the business of creating value for investors. >> was job creation or making money the goal? >> well, every business is organized to create a return for the people who invest in the business. and as businesses are successful and profitable, they're able to hire people. and they can hire more people the more successful they are. businesses are created to provide a return to the owners or the investors. and it has a wonderful by-product. it employs more and more people. that's the nature of american enterprise. >> ten years into his run at bain capital, romney decided it was time to leave business for politics, just as his father had done. >> i will work very hard to make sure that everybody gets a good job. >> how are you feeling? >> energized, enthusiastic.

>> romney's target, senator ted kennedy. not exactly starting at the bottom of the ladder there. >> i told my colleagues at work, don't clean up my desk or move into my office. i'll be spending time away from work, and it will be a leave of absence. but i really believe someone needs to run against ted kennedy. >> kennedy was vulnerable. his personal life seemed out of control. as his son patrick remembers it, the contrast with romney was glaring. >> and opposite my dad was this really great-looking guy who was a whiz at business, beautiful family, kind of the picture of self-discipline. and next to my dad, he was like the perfect polar opposite. >> how are you? yes! >> except, during that race on social issues -- >> let me ask you a question -- >> -- mitt romney sounded an

awful lot like ted kennedy. >> i'm absolutely committed to achieving universal coverage and doing so for our children. >> were you a liberal? were you a moderate? >> no. you know, anyone can call me whatever they like, but people can look at my policies and make their own determination. >> ted divine worked for the kennedy campaign. >> mitt romney ran as a strongly pro-choice candidate. he told the newspaper in boston, the gay newspaper in boston, that he'd be better on gay rights than kennedy. >> are you saying romney is just an opportunist? >> i think he looks at politics the way he does business deals, that this doesn't represent an ideological path for him. i think anyone who looks at his position on issues has to come to that judgment, that for romney, politics is a means of obtaining power to do things that he wants to do. >> by the fall of 1994, it was a dead heat, and the kennedy campaign was looking for a silver bullet. they found it in bain capital.

>> i don't like romney's creating jobs because he took every one of them away. >> the ads featured workers for a paper company in indiana. after a bain-owned company took it over, many of its workers lost their jobs. romney says he wasn't at bain at the time. his opponents say his actions led to the job cuts. >> if you think you'd make such a good senator, come out here to marion, indiana, and see what your company has done to these people. >> it worked so well the obama campaign is using the same indiana company, even the same people again. >> he doesn't care anything about the middle class or the lower class people. >> if we are successful -- >> romney's religious beliefs played a part as well. senator kennedy's nephew joe at one point attacked the mormon church for not allowing blacks to join the priesthood, a policy that had changed 16 years earlier. romney went on the offensive,

citing the speech john f. kennedy gave addressing his roman catholic faith. >> in my view, the victory that john kennedy won was not just for 40 million americans who were born catholics, it was for all americans of all faiths. and i'm sad to see that ted kennedy is trying to take away his brother's victory. >> my son's position is the same as jack kennedy's position. >> even romney's father, george, entered the fray. >> i think it's absolutely wrong to keep hammering on the religious issue. >> mr. romney -- >> then in october a critical debate. >> senator kennedy and his family have a multiple real estate empire across this country. >> romney accused the kennedy family of financially benefiting from real estate deals. >> senator, 15 seconds. >> mr. romney, the kennedys are not in public service to make money. we have paid too high a price in our commitment to the public service.

>> ted kennedy began pulling away, and mitt romney lost. >> he was back at work the next day. the election was tuesday night. wednesday morning he was back at his desk. >> we kind of expected it. it was -- it's interesting. ann was more upset by it than i. but losing put me back into business, and i was more successful than i had been before. >> but not long after, something that would make political defeat seem trivial. >> i think my diagnosis was probably the roughest thing we had to go through as a couple

♪ it was just before thanksgiving 1998. >> she began to see some numbness on her right side. it began spreading larger and larger. she was having more difficulty getting up stairs. we went to a neurologist. >> romney's life was about to take an unexpected and unhappy turn. >> we went into his office, and he performed an examination. it was very clear that she was flunking the examination. she couldn't stand on her right foot without falling over and so forth. he stepped out, and she began to cry, and i welled up tears as well. we hugged each other. and she said, something's terribly wrong.

>> at age 49, ann romney was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, an incurable disease that can shut down the central nervous system. >> you don't know how much is it going to chew me up and spit me out. where and when is it going to spit me out? how sick am i going to get? is this going to be progressive? am i going to be in a wheelchair? and it's a very, very frightening place to be. >> and i know ann was really distraught and distressed with the diagnosis, particularly as time went on, because she was really ill for quite a while. >> i really just was having a very, very hard time and was very depressed and had kind of given up a little bit. >> it was a tough moment for both of them. it was interesting to see the way he treated her as they went through that, very caring, very loving. very frustrating for him not to be able to step in and fix it, but it was -- you know, they drew even closer.

>> even when i was as sick as that, he would curl up in the bed with me. >> take a minute. >> so you just knew that that's where he was. it was like he was going to do anything he could to just say, i'm here, you're okay, just stay right there, and we'll be okay. >> as the romneys were struggling to get ann's m.s. under control, they were about to face a challenge of an entirely different sort. >> could the scandal over salt lake's olympic bid shatter our city's quest to host the olympic games? >> the 2002 olympics were in trouble. salt lake city was embroiled in a bribery scandal that threatened to bring down the games. so the search was on for someone to repair the damage.

>> romney knew finance, politics and was a mormon. and that made him the top choice. >> they called me instead of mitt because they knew mitt would turn them down flat. >> she called me at work and said, i want you to -- don't say no, mitt. i think you ought to go run the olympics. don't be ridiculous. that's absolutely crazy. i'd never do that. but over time she convinced me. >> so, despite ann's health issues, the romneys left bain and moved to utah in 1999. but when romney really left bain capital is now controversial. on paper, he remained chief executive officer, raising the question of his responsibility for companies that laid off workers when he was in utah. he says that he was gone from the company completely, that the olympics were all-consuming. >> when he got there, it was a disaster. and he was panicked. he really seriously considered saying, it's not going to work here, there's just too many problems. >> romney needed help so he rallied an old friend from bain

capital, fraser bullock, to be the games chief operating officer. >> mitt did describe it as stepping into an empty elevator shaft because you're falling and you're not sure when you will hit ground. >> bullock joined the team that tried to do damage control. they created an operating plan, tried to convince sponsors to stay on board and took a critical look at the nearly $400 million budget deficit staring them in the face. and even got rid of the usual catering at olympic board meetings. >> we had domino's pizza, and it was a dollar a slice. because he knew he could buy a pizza for five bucks, cut it into eight slices, sell them for a dollar a slice, get $8 of revenue for every pizza at a cost of $5. he turned the lunches from a cost center into a profit center. >> the olympics is like putting on seven super bowls a day for 17 days straight. >> and he became the public face

of the games, even becoming an amateur participant, seen here on the skeleton. so did he say one day, i think i'm going to try the skeleton? >> yeah. he said, i'm going to go try this. he got better and better and better so he could get going 70 miles an hour, which is crazy. >> but hidden from the public was the continuing personal struggle. >> mitt was always just constantly worried about ann. she was really deteriorating. >> and she battled through it. she got good help from wonderful physicians. >> by august of 2001, it looked like they had ann's m.s. and the olympics under control. but then -- 9/11. >> -- billowing into the sky. >> there's smoke everywhere. >> unspeakable sorrow and a very real fear of terrorism at the

olympics. >> it's a time for us to make sure that everyone in the world recognizes that we don't stop as a nation, that the characteristics of honor and courage, sacrifice and devotion, which is represented by the olympic athletes, is a message more important today than perhaps ever before. >> over the next five months and with the help of some money from the federal government, security was beefed up. and the games began. >> we had about 2,500 athletes that came in, did the parade of nations, walked all the way around. >> it was a great moment for him, i think. as one political pollster in utah said at the time, mitt romney could walk on water at that point. >> but not everyone agreed. >> mitt and i often had disagreements about how or what we thought the games were about. and i wasn't on his team, so to

speak. >> it's a gold medal day for utah. >> ken bullock, no relation to frazier bullock, was on the organizing committee of the salt lake city olympics before and after romney was brought on board. he was a sort of my way or the highway kind of guy? >> absolutely, no question. to me, the games were about utah. it wasn't about mitt. >> bullock claims romney made the problems look worse than they really were, a calculated political move to ensure public success. >> did we need to raise revenue? were we short? yes. were we three years out? yes. big difference of the games being around the corner. >> so you think he overstated the problems? >> dramatically. dramatically. >> it's a charge the romney camp scoffs at. and in the end, the 2002 olympics were profitable and one of the most successful winter games in history. >> he had pulled off this big success. he had rescued these games. and now it was a question of

what he would parlay that into. >> it wouldn't take long for that question to be answered.

the opening ceremonies for the 2002 winter olympics were still more than a month away, but mitt romney already had other plans. beth myers remembers getting a call from romney in january. >> i'm thinking about running for governor, and would you have any interest in helping me run my campaign? >> massachusetts had a republican governor, jane swift, but party leaders saw her as weak so they came to romney in a panic. >> jane swift gets wind of this, and two days later she bows out. so she's out and mitt romney is in. he flies back to belmont with his wife, ann, they're both wearing olympic jackets and give a press conference, and the campaign's begun. >> romney's campaign spokesman. >> it was like being launched out of a rocket. >> how you doing? >> as you know, this is a very democratic state. the legislature is 85% democrat. very few republicans make it into statewide office.

so we had a fight on our hands. >> he ran as a moderate on social issues, vowing to clean up state government. >> would you raise your right hand, please? >> it worked. >> congratulations, governor. >> thank you. >> from the beginning, romney relied on a small set of advisors. beth myers, who has never spoken on camera before, was chief of staff. >> people call you romney's romney. >> for four years, we sat in offices that had a door between us and we popped back and forth between each other's offices all day long. we talked about faith. we talked about the issues of the day. >> first order of business, treat government like a business. >> we had a huge budget deficit so every morning we'd come in and we'd have stacks and stacks of budget books, and line by line -- and mitt would meet in his staff office every morning

with the cabinet secretaries. >> it was the way he had always done it, at bain, at the olympics. but here not everyone was on romney's team. >> i will agree that he was a different cat than what people on beacon hill were used to. i think that's probably a pretty good thing. >> i got better over time. i know i made mistakes in how i dealt with others in the legislature, but we started off pretty well. >> then, two years into his term, he set his sights on something bigger, something that would mean a legacy -- health care. >> he had not had a major achievement that he could point to as some big political success in a future campaign. he needed something to say, i had done this and it was a big deal. >> romney decided to push for health care to cover everyone in the state, but that meant mandating most residents to buy health insurance. >> the governor felt that it

would be wrong for the economy and wrong for our business sector to impose a mandate on employers, to require them to provide insurance to their employees. but he felt it very important that people take responsibility for their own health care. >> it was romney's big moment. but now a liability. republicans bitterly oppose any kind of mandate in today's presidential race. >> i think the politics of it have been so complicated that it's ironic the biggest thing he achieved as governor is something he almost never talks about. >> no less complicated, the politics of abortion. while romney was personally opposed to abortion, he ran for governor supporting abortion rights. but once in office and presented with stem cell legislation that would, in romney's view, have the potential of destroying embryos, he changed his mind. >> and i realized that what sounded good in a campaign, when i actually became the governor

and was going to be the person who would sign a piece of legislation which could take human life, i simply couldn't do that. >> democrats say it was about ambition. >> he wanted to run for president of the united states, and he understood that within the republican nominating process, somebody that was pro choice or pro gay rights or anything in terms of a progressive stance would lose. >> i didn't ever see it as a flip-flop. i think that what you saw was the tension between personal beliefs and a public persona. >> none of this would slow romney down. his sights were already set on the white house in 2008. but there were doubts about his convictions and questions about his mormon faith, a religion some evangelicals call a cult. >> mormonism is the most colorful and controversial, politically toxic and dangerous because people pull out strands

and skewer them. >> there was no avoiding it, though, so romney decided to give a crucial speech on his faith early in the primaries. >> he wrote it. he really wrote every word. >> he wrote every word of it. i mean, you very rarery hear that about a politician. >> he did. >> i am an american running for president. i do not define my candidacy by my religion. a person should not be elected because of his faith nor should he be rejected because of his faith. >> ultimately, 2008 was not mitt romney's year. it was john mccain's. a brutal loss for romney and his family. >> i feel i have to now stand aside. >> for me, i was like, that's it, okay, we did that. that's fine. never again.

you guys are great.

almost but not quite. >> i will never do this again. and i just made sure it was very emphatic. >> the romney family seemed done with politics and didn't keep it a secret. >> it was again a very bruising thing. i think people forget that these are real families, the people they love that are going through these hard times. >> so why the change of heart? >> it was a change of heart. what this m.s. disease has taught me is to learn how to be self-contained and how to not absorb some of the negative things and to recognize that it was an endeavor worth doing and worth pursuing. >> i'm mitt romney. i believe in america. and i'm running for president of the united states. >> but it was a different environment this time around. very anti-establishment. so romney was reborn as an outsider. >> i served in government, but i didn't inhale. i'm still a business guy. romney had one driving message.

>> and have the experience to get our economy back on track. that's the kind of leader i aspire to be. >> it became his mantra. but the tea party, full of contempt for health care reform, never trusted romney, the man who reformed health care in massachusetts. erick erickson is the editor of redstate.com, a conservative website. >> you sit in a room with conservatives behind the scenes without cameras on and ask them how many really believe mitt romney will fully repeal obama-care, i don't think a hand would go up in the room. >> when romney calls himself this -- >> i was a severely conservative republican governor. >> -- he gets this. >> that's not a line you hear conservatives say about themselves. that's something you hear democrats say about conservatives. >> this is not the time to be doubting people's words. >> one by one, the old demons reappeared. >> romney-care. >> pro abortion. >> bain capital. >> handing the democrats a primer on romney's vulnerabilities. >> i will release multiple years. i don't know how many years. >> on bain, flip-flops, taxes,

secrecy, his wealth. but romney finally crawled across the finish line. and his new junior partner, paul ryan, has given reluctant conservatives some hope. >> i want to hear what he has to say on this topic. >> but presidential politics is more than just piecing together coalitions. it's also about telling a story of who you are, what you believe and why you can be trusted. >> he's very professional. he's got a bit of new england in him. when he's out doing a job, he's going to do it professionally, but he's not the caricature the media or democrats want to portray. he's a very warm, caring guy. >> good morning.

>> romney painted his own unflattering portrait and the damage endured. >> his problem during this campaign, if you look at the polls, is that a significant majority of people do not believe he understands their problems. and when he talked about the 47%, that only seemed to compound that problem. >> i think the first, most important thing is to recognize that that's not an accurate perception, that he's obviously running for 100% of the americans. >> the first presidential debate became the most important job interview of romney's career.

a moment for him to fix things. >> as soon as he gets on stage, the first thing he does, takes off his watch and puts it on the podium. but then he writes "dad" on a piece of paper. and that's amazing because he loves his dad, respects his dad, doesn't want to do anything that would not make his father proud. and just a reminder that, yes, i'm here, but, dad, i love and respect who you are, what you've taught me, what kind of a person you are, and i'm going to honor that. >> middle income families are being crushed. >> romney attacked. obama wilted. >> you've been president you said you'd cut the deficit in half. it's years later, we have trillion-dollar deficits. >> it was a romney turnaround recasting romney from the right to the middle during the next two debates. >> regulation is essential.

you can't have a free market work if you don't have regulation. >> opening the door for the opposition to ask, who's the real romney? >> we've got to name this condition he's going through. i think -- i think it's called romnesia. >> people say you're secretive, out of touch, you play by a different set of rules. >> i know the obama campaign is going to do everything they can to try and deflect from the economic record of the president and his failure to come up with the plan to get the economy going in the future. >> no doubt romney is on message this time. he wants us to believe he can fix things like the economy and won't give up until he does. but that's the easy part of his story. the rest is harder to tell. he's a devout mormon who still worries it will be held against him. he's more pragmatist than ideologue, more private than public, and in the end more

cautious than candid, possibly the lesson he learned from his father's life. >> he cared about the passion for the mission he was in the middle of fighting for and win being or losing didn't change who he was. he's been defined as a man of character throughout his life. elections don't change that. >> is that how you feel during the election, win or lose? >> absolutely. this is up to the american people. who i am has long been decided by my wife, my five sons, my grandchildren and sons in law and people who know me best. i, barack hussein obama -- >> a candidate of hope --

>> on this date, we have chosen hope over fear. >> -- inherits a nation in crisis. >> the briefing was absolutely chilling. >> my first job when i came into office was making sure we didn't get into a great depression. >> a leader driven to make history. >> health care reform cannot wait. >> he doesn't just want to be another president. he wanted to be a great president. >> cool under pressure. >> it was a huge risk that the president took. >> the united states killed osama bin laden. >> his presidency marked by political division. >> speaker boehner, he says you flinched. >> i'm sure that's his version of events. >> i think the biggest failure is the president's unwillingness to listen to the american people. >> a man whose style would both help him and hurt him as a leader.

>> when i'm making decisions, i try to not get caught up in the emotions of the moment. >> "obama revealed: the man, the president." i can't wait to tell my children about it. >> buttons, t-shirts! it was an historic moment. >> prepare to take the oath, senator? >> i am. i, barack hussein obama, do solemlty swear -- >> so help you god? >> so help me god. >> congratulations, mr. president. >> a new day with towering expectations. >> he looked at me and said, it's been an incredible ride, hasn't it? and he said, yeah, and it's just beginning.

>> on this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. >> for many, barack obama and his presidency symbolized much more than political change. >> obama! obama! obama! >> i'm still crying for the sons and daughters of slaves, their offspring, for people who have built a capitol. it means so much to every human being that live in this country. >> may god bless the united states of america. >> hope is what led me here today. >> candidate obama ran on a message of hope and change. it's not just the size of the crowds, but there's something different. people come and wait for hours

for him. sometimes they start crying when he talks. >> barack obama! >> i need you to stand up! >> we want change! we want change! we want change! >> do you think people saw in him what they wanted to? >> there was some projection on to him perhaps more than anybody could ever live up to. >> the country needed help and in a hurry. >> today we learned that our economy shrank in the last three months of 2008. that's the worst contraction in close to three decades. >> rahm emanuel would be the president's chief of staff. >> slightly like rolling thunder because you could have taken the economics, you could taken the auto, you could have taken the financial, you could have taken afghanistan, you could have taken iraq. usually, there's an "a," a "b." what happens when all five are

as? >> it was basically awful. >> in the months leading up to inauguration, economic adviser austan goolsbee watched in horror as the stock market dropped more than 500 points in a day. >> there was a bottle of bourbon sitting there in the campaign. it had been there for a year and a half and i said, man, if there ever was a day to have a drink of this emergency bourbon, it's today. >> and then it got worse. >> the next day dropped another 500 points. and then late in the campaign, it happens again and somebody says, where's the bourbon? i said, the bottle's empty. >> the emergency bourbon was gone, and the economy was in dire shape. one month before his inauguration barack obama called an urgent meeting during a chicago blizzard. >> the president meets for the first time with all his economic advisers as a group for four hours.

everybody in the room is struck with the gravity of the situation. >> i said, mr. president, this is your holy bleep moment. you are facing the worst downturn since the great depression. we're going to have to hit this with everything we have. >> the president is very clear. we need to act. we need to make our mistakes on side of pulling the band-aid off fast. that was the phrase he used. he made the decision that day to go for a massive stimulus program. >> when the briefing's over, i go up to the president-elect and i say, you know, that's got to be the worst briefing that the president-elect's had at least since 1932 and maybe since abraham lincoln in 1860. and the president says, goolsbee, that's not even my worst briefing this week. >> my first job when i came into office was making sure we didn't get into a great depression and

the economy could start growing again. >> also high on the president's agenda, his campaign promise to heal the nation's bitter partisan divide. >> we are more than a collection of red states and blue states. we're the united states of america. >> after a month in office, a whopping 76% of americans approved of the new president's job performance, though he was only just beginning. >> you could create whatever you wanted out of him. he was a folklore figure right out of the gate. >> what do you think people expected him to do? >> i think people didn't know. the problem with change is change for what. >> the passionate speaker who electrified crowds on the campaign trail -- >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states and michelle obama! >> -- would become a calm, cool leader once in office. a lot of people describe you as

cool. that cuts both ways. fair description? >> people who know me well and people on the campaign trail, i don't think they'd describe me that way. i am in a lot of ways an extrovert when it comes to folks outside the beltway. i'm not sure it's hurt except maybe for some of my relations i think inside of the beltway here in washington. >> he's not easily categorized in any way. he wants it all. he's rational, first of all. he's a little bit deliberative and cautious. but then once in a while he'll go for the bold stroke because he wants something larger. >> the president's next decisions would move the right to anger. >> you better wake up, america! >> the left to disappointment. and leave a nation more polarized than ever. >> i think he came in feeling

his own exceptionalism. and then the realities of washington smacked him in the head.

january 2009. the president's promises of hope and change would be put to the test by the worst financial crisis in modern history. >> you look at any important economic statistic. they were collapsing faster in the fall of 2008 than they had collapsed in the fall of 1929. >> 11 million americans unemployed. 13 million homes in foreclosure. the president's chief economist saw an unprecedented hole opening in the economy. >> we were hanging on the edge of a cliff. in fact, we were starting down that, down into the abyss. >> for once, most in washington agreed. something had to be done.

>> things were bad. it needed to be big. it needed to be bold. >> but there were vast disagreements on how bold. some in the president's party wanted a rescue plan close to $2 trillion. >> it's a funny thing to say, but every $100 million helps. so by doing a bigger program than what had been on table absolutely meant we were getting more job creation, more help for the economy. >> republicans balked at anything approaching even half that. >> i don't believe our colleagues have the sense that another $108 billion will solve the problem. >> ultimately, the president decide to try to rev the economy's engine with an $787 billion stimulus plan. the president felt he needed bipartisan support so he met with republican members of congress. before he took office, days after inauguration, and on super

bowl sunday. he was pitching a bill that would give tax cuts to almost all americans. pay salaries for teachers and cops. build roads and bridges and more. republicans objected to the spending and to the president's tone. >> we outlined other ideas that we thought would help get the economy moving again and put people back to work. those issues were rejected. and the president at that same meeting said, you have to understand that, you know, when we disagree, you have to remember that i won. >> a phrase like "i won" wasn't winning the president any friends. but the president says he was listening to republicans. >> if anything, i think i received a lot of criticism from my own party for going out of my way to try to solicit republican cooperation. and the fact of the matter was

that politically there was a decision that was made fairly early on among some of their leadership that said working with the president is not good politics. >> i think he came in sort of feeling his own exceptionalism. and then the realities of washington smacked him in the head. >> by the time the president went to sell the bill to congress, republicans seemed to have made up their minds. >> on my trip up to the hill, they released an e-mail saying, we're going to be voting against it, before they'd even heard our presentation. >> in a stinging rebuke, every house republican voted no. >> the bill that was supposed to be about jobs, jobs, jobs has turned into a bill that's all about spending, spending, and spending. >> two months after the election, the republicans said this is your problem. we're going to start planning for four years from now. >> the president scrambled his team to the hill to try to save the bill in the senate.

when the stimulus finally passed -- >> and that's it, dana. >> that's it. >> it came with the nearly $800 billion price tag and the support of only three senate republicans. one of them was olympia snowe. >> he just got off to a poor start and unfortunately the wrong foot and set the tone for the remainder of his administration had only begun. >> she believes the president missed a crucial opportunity to engage republicans early on. >> i'm not so sure that he truly understands the relationship and the interaction that occurs between the president and the legislative branch. >> with hindsight, his closest aides admit room for improvement. >> there wasn't a whole lot of time left over for sort of hand holding and schmoozing. perhaps we should have made more time for it.

but at the time it seemed like he was spending his waking hours doing what he was supposed to do. >> republicans howled the spending was too much. and when unemployment blew past the administration's 8% projection -- >> i made a bad forecast. >> -- republicans slammed it as a failure. >> it turned out that the hole we were trying to dig ourselves out of was deeper than we had anticipated. >> years later the nonpartisan congressional budget office would find that the stimulus, or recovery act, saved or created more than 3 million jobs. but by then the battle lines were drawn in a clash of ideas that would dominate the president's term. >> between the belief that government is going to solve your problems to belief that the era of big government is over. >> the president had lost control of the message and the hopes for partnership with republicans. >> they were kind of coming at

it like the old east german judge at the olympics where it doesn't matter what -- you know, the president could be doing a triple flip lutz and they're giving him a 2. the card's already filled out.

preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the united states. >> so help you god. >> so help me god. >> congratulation, mr. president. >> the first 100 days traditionally gives an incoming president a soft start. >> at the end of every day, we would either be in the oval office or we'd take a walk. >> president obama and his chief of staff rahm emanuel kept close tabs on their to-do list. >> then we made sure we had

our -- he and i used this word interchangeably, our north stars. you know, it's easy in these jobs day to day to get thrown off course. what's your north star, what do you need to get done. >> did you expect there to be a honeymoon period? >> i don't remember walking the halls saying should we get a honeymoon? i don't really -- we got problems to solve. i don't have the luxury of looking at oil paintings and talking to them. >> even as the stimulus fight was at fever pitch, the auto industry was falling fatally ill. >> literally, they were talking about two weeks and bust. there was not two years. there was not, we have a problem here. we think we can keep it alive for two weeks. >> if general motors and chrysler had been liquidated, in all likelihood, other automobile companies would have collapsed. an entire supplier network. the consequences would have been

felt in every community in the country. >> the car companies had squandered their first cash infusion from president bush. months later when gm and chrysler asked for more taxpayer money, congress refused. so the president did it on his own. >> we cannot and must not and we will not let our auto industry simply vanish. >> and he went against the advice of his own -- some cases, his own advisers. >> he bailed out the auto industry anyway in a wildly unpopular move opposed by nearly three quarters of americans. as well as his future republican opponent mitt romney. at first the restructuring of the industry cost thousands their jobs. >> when you look at everything from the auto bailout which was very unpopular at the time. if i'd been leading with emotions or had my political hat on, we might not have done, but saved a million jobs. >> ultimately, the bailout saved

jobs and it provided the industry a safety net. but the president was not effective at selling it. >> it would be great if you were sitting down for an hour-long lecture in a classroom but not necessarily try to sell it to the public. he doesn't think in sound bites. >> while the president pushed forward on his agenda, his critics reacted to what they saw as one liberal program after another. stimulus. auto rescue. homeowner relief. >> lennon and stalin would love this stuff. >> then in february 2009 a defining attack on cnbc that tapped into a rich vein of rage. >> you know, mansions and a relatively decent economy. they moved from the individual to the collective. now they're driving '54 chevys. we're thinking of having a chicago tea party. >> the tea party was born. conservatives would see each new program as an ominous sign of the encroachment of big

government. >> the economy's terrible because i think president obama is practicing a lost decade economics. more borrow. more demand side economics. a massive amount of uncertainty on regulation, on taxes, on interest rates. >> the president had angered the right. but he also riled the left when he asked for another $300 billion for the wall street banks. >> bailout working families! bailout working families! >> then staggering news. failing insurance giant aig had received $170 billion. in taxpayer dollars. now it paid millions in bonuses to the very executives who wrecked the place. >> what happened with these bonuses was a mugging on wall street. >> privately, advisers say the president was outraged. >> and i think it offended people's values and it offended his values. >> but publicly the president was slow to respond.

>> i think people are right to be angry. i'm angry. >> the administration let the bonuses stand. and the president missed an opening to champion the change he had promised. >> you get out of this president a lot of butter knife routines. you know, these some abusers on wall street. who? name the names. he doesn't want to do that because he doesn't like conflict. >> aides say it's just not his style. >> is he going to, like, get up on the sofa and yell and scream and stomp his feet? i don't think so. i think people misconceive the expression of emotion with the idea of having emotion. >> ten months later, when more wall street bonuses were revealed, the president finally channeled his inner rage during an interview on "60 minutes." >> i did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of, you know, fat cat bankers on wall street. >> the bank bailout helped keep wall street alive and credit flowing.

eventually the government recouped that $300 billion plus a profit. and the president got his wall street reform through congress. but before his first 100 days were over, he had upset constituencies across the spectrum. >> well, he's either called the golden mean or the brass mean. either one. because you're right, the heads of the banks hate him. a lot of other people think all he's done is protect them. he's both a socialist and advocate for the 1%. go figure how you are. simultaneously. >> i thought that would be hard work but that proved remarkably easy to find ways to make everybody mad. >> out of the gate, the president seemed disconnected and ready to tackle his own agenda. >> all the work we did with the recovery act and giving people tax cuts and saving the auto industry all were designed to make sure that we righted the ship. but as i reminded my staff, we

ran in 2008 not only to get back to the pre-crisis situation but also to solve problems that had been, you know, hurting middle class families for a decade or more. >> in other words, the president wanted to get on with the work he went to the white house to do. and that meant the biggest battle of his presidency. >> let there be no doubt, health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait and it will not wait another year.